Who are the ten virgins
in the parable of Matthew 25:1-13? Who are the wise and who are the foolish?

Remember that a parable
is a narration of events to depict a profound spiritual truth concerning
the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. Many Christians have given the parable
different interpretations. But unless God reveals it, one can only guess. And
certainly God will never reveal His Truth just to anyone. But I believe, and
always will believe, that our Heavenly Father only reveals His hidden Truth to
those who belong to Him, those who are His elect and those who have an ear
to hear what His Spirit says (cf. Matt.11:25-27; 13:10-17; 16:17;
Mk.4:11-12; 1Cor.2:10). That’s the truth. Amen.

There are certain
important key words that show the time and the people involved in this
parable. Without prayerful and careful examination of the parable, we will
miss the hidden truth with which it contains. However, we cannot even begin
to look at this parable until we first understand the parable of the SOWER
that our Lord Jesus Christ narrated in Matthew 13. In connection to the
parable of the SOWER, our Lord narrated six other parables in succession,
one after the other (cf. vv.53). These seven parables are unlike most of the
other parables, for Matthew is the only Gospel writer to record down these
seven parables, as spoken by Christ, in continuous flow and for good reason.
Therefore, we need to be mindful to take an overview of these seven parables
before we proceed, for denominationalism has distorted their true meanings.
The denominations have mainly interpreted each parable as teaching how
sinners got saved or would be saved by the Gospel. They are far from the truth. All seven parables
show the changes that would take place in the Church of Christ throughout
the Gospel Age (or the Seven Church Ages as prophetically illustrated in the
first three chapters of the Book of Revelation). Because Christ had won the
victory over Satan by His death at Calvary, Satan was undeniably upset. These
seven parables show how Satan was to go about hindering the journey of the
saints of God, bringing the Church to a crawl, and then how the Church was
able to struggle out of it and return to her original position.

The seven parables are
broken up into 4 sets. The first three deal with seeds – the germ of life.
The fourth deals with leavening – the corruption of food. The fifth and the
sixth deal with lost treasures and pearls – things of value that men seek
for. And the last deals with a dragnet, the fishermen and the good choice –
a great work of separation.

The Parable of the Sower
– Matthew 13:1-23

1 The same day
went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.

2 And great
multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and
sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3 And he spake many
things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

4 And when he
sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them
up:

5 Some fell upon
stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up,
because they had no deepness of earth:

6 And when the
sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered
away.

7 And some fell
among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

8 But other fell
into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

9 Who hath ears
to hear, let him hear.

10 And the
disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

11 He answered
and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

12 For whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever
hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

13 Therefore
speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they
hear not, neither do they understand.

14 And in them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

15 For this
people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.

16 But blessed
are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

17 For verily I
say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those
things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which
ye hear, and have not heard them.

18 Hear ye
therefore the parable of the sower.

19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the
wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he
which received seed by the way side.

20 But he that
received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it;

21 Yet hath he not
root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

22 He also that
received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of
this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh
unfruitful.

23 But he that
received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Concerning the mysteries
of the "kingdom of heaven" Jesus Christ purposely spoke in parables with
good reason. It was to hide the truth of the mysteries from the multitude
who heard, for many had ears that were dull of hearing, eyes that were blind
and hearts that were hardened. However, to those who were the true disciples
of Christ and who had ears to hear, Christ revealed to them the hidden
truth. Similarly, He will reveal to His true disciples in this present day.

The disciples initially
did not understand the mysteries of this first parable. And Christ said to
them, "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?"
(Mk.4:13). Until Christ gives the revelation, it is impossible for anyone to
understand the truth of all parables concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. That
this first parable concerning the Kingdom of Heaven must be first understood
is clear for it concerns THE SOWER and HIS SEED. In verse 37 we are made to
understand that THE SOWER sows only GOOD SEED, and HE is the SON OF MAN,
Jesus the Christ. It is He Who is "the author and finisher of our faith"
(Heb.12:2). And Jesus very clearly expounded His own parable in verses 18 to
23, hence no further explanation is required. There were four grounds upon
which the seed fell – the "good ground", the "way side", the
"stony places"
and "among thorns". Those "that received seed into the good ground"
were His disciples. The other three grounds were found among those who were
as the rich young ruler, the religious leaders (the Pharisees, the
Sadducees) and those who desired only the "bread and fishes"
respectively
(Joh.6:26).

Immediately after the
parable of THE SOWER, Jesus put forth the second parable.

The Parable of the Tares
among the Wheat – Matthew 13:24-30

24 Another
parable put he forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his
field:

25 But while men
slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

26 But when the
blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27 So the
servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow
good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto
them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then
that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said,
Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow
together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the
reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to
burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Notice that this second
parable begins with these words the "kingdom of heaven". This term the
"kingdom of heaven" represents Christ as King to His disciples and believers
in this present earth. It speaks of a "heavenly" dispensation, the
dispensation of His Gospel. No other Gospel writers used this term. Only
Matthew used it. And rightly so because Matthew’s teachings deal with the
Kingship of Christ. The term the "kingdom of God" used in the other Gospels
represents God’s "eternal" kingdom. The two terms are not always
interchangeable. A careful reading of Matthew’s usage of the "kingdom of
God" in the five instances recorded in Matthew 6:33; 12:28; 19:24; 21:31,43
will provide the answer. The kingdom of God is right in the midst of the
kingdom of heaven. When the kingdom of heaven is fulfilled, the kingdom of
God will remain eternally with God.

Why is the "kingdom of
heaven" introduced in this second parable? In the first parable our Lord
Jesus Christ portrayed Himself as the SOWER sowing the SEED of the Word of
God. It depicts how different people who upon receiving the WORD of God
would react. But only those that grew out of the good ground could yield
fruits, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold. The "kingdom of
heaven" only began after Christ had accomplished His work of sowing the
Gospel and left His field to His servants to care for it.

"But while men slept, his
enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." Evil works
are usually done in the dark when men are not fully alert or when they are
asleep. As shown in the parable, Satan somehow sneaked into the field and
sowed tares among the wheat. He sought to destroy the field, if possible, or
at the very least to corrupt and hinder those in it. Tares are imitators of
wheat, looking like wheat in their early stage of growth. Both are not
easily distinguishable until they come to ear.

Not long after the Church
had been established on the Day of Pentecost, the Mystery of Iniquity began
to work and soon tares were found among the field of wheat around the year
53 AD. More tares were sown as the first generation of the able men of God
went to sleep in their graves. By the Second Church Age (Smyrna - Rev.2:8-11) the tares
were many and had become very noticeable. The servants of the Lord in the 2nd
Century thought to weed out the tares. However, to prevent harm to the wheat
the Master’s advice was to let the tares grow together with the wheat. He
had no intention of removing the tares until the Harvest at which time He
would send out the reapers to first gather the tares for the burning.

And now we are at the
harvest time.

"Declare unto us…" –
Matthew 13:36-43

36 Then Jesus
sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came
unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

37 He answered and
said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

38 The field is
the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are
the children of the wicked one;

39 The enemy
that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the
reapers are the angels.

40 As therefore
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of
this world.

41 The Son of
man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom
all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

42 And shall
cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of
teeth.

43 Then shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who
hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Concerning the Gospel,
there are now two kinds of grains in the "field", the wheat and the tares.
The wheat, the good seeds, are the true believers of God. The tares, the
false seeds, are the make-believers – the children of the wicked ones. Both
the wheat and the tares are found growing in the Kingdom of Heaven but only
the wheat belong to the Kingdom of God.

The year 1948 saw the
formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Through it the Lord sent
His angels to gather "all things that offend, and them which do iniquity",
that is to gather the tares and bind them together ready to be cast into the
fiery furnace of the Great Tribulation. Now that the tares are bound up, the
wheat are being gathered into the barn (or granary). Remember that the SOWER
had sowed only good seeds in His field and would therefore gather only wheat
grains into His granary. But before the wheat grains can be gathered and
stored in the granary, the wheat are gathered to the threshing floor
(sometime referred to as a barn, Job 39:12) to be thoroughly purged of the
chaff. The threshing floor is the
Word of God. Thus fulfills the words of John
the Baptist:

Luke 3:16 John
answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one
mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

17 Whose fan is
in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the
wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

Yes, this is the
separating time. For "all things that offend, and them which do iniquity",
Christ will see to it that they are gathered for the burning. As the seed is
not heir with the chaff, so shall the chaff be purged for the burning. The
hypocrites, the make-believers and the personality-cult followers are such
that must be thoroughly removed from the Kingdom of God.

The Parable of the
Mustard Seed – Matthew 13:31-32

31 Another
parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

32 Which indeed is
the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among
herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in
the branches thereof.

Notice that the man sowed
the grain of mustard seed in his garden (not his field where he sowed his wheat,
cf. Lk.13:18-19). The mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds (cf.
Mk.4:30-32). The phrasal words are Jewish proverbial for smallness. (The
word "smallest" is used hyperbolically.) The mustard seed is a
very small seed
and it cannot be hybrid. The plant, looking somewhat like a tree when fully
grown to about 10 feet, is actually an herb. Amongst all the other herbs grown
in the garden, the mustard plant would certainly resemble a tree with its
branches stretched out in various directions.

Denominational preachers
have taught that the parable either represents the sinners, which are the
birds of the air, being attracted to the Gospel of the Church or the
Gentiles being allowed to enter the Church originally for the Jews. A closer
examination tells us that the "birds of the air" has no direct relationship
with the life of the "mustard seed". The germ of life in the mustard seed
has its roots in the earth. As it grew it manifested its branches, leaves
and fruits. The birds were not part of the mustard plant. They were of the
air. Though they might perch or rest in the shadow of the mustard tree, they
were not part of it.

The MAN who sowed the
mustard seed in His own garden represents the Son of Man. He sowed the
mustard seed of the Gospel of salvation, which bore life and grew into a
small plant, the small group of believers on the Day of Pentecost. As it
continued to grow, it produced more branches and more leaves. By and by it
came to look like a small tree as the Church grew. Remember that the mustard
tree is actually an herb. And like all herbs, it has medicinal value. For
that reason the birds were attracted to the mustard tree.

By this time the Church
had entered into the Pergamean Church Age (Rev.2:12-17), the beginning of
the 4th Century AD. Constantine, the then new emperor of Rome,
embraced Christianity in 312 AD after his "vision" of the Cross - "in hoc
signo vinces " ("in this sign you will be victorious"). By it he had
several victories in his battle campaign for the Roman Empire. He pronounced
Christianity the state religion. From 320-330 AD, Constantine began to
attack paganism through the government but he often persuaded people to
follow the laws by combining pagan worship with Christianity. Those who were
"converted" to Christianity were safe from persecution. This attracted the
men of higher societies and ranks – the rich, the noble, the aristocrat, and
even pagan priests and religious leaders – to find shelter in the Church for
their personal benefit. These were the birds that came to perch on the
branches for
shelter
and comfort and for protection from the heat (persecution). These birds did
not contribute anything to the mustard tree except their weight and their
droppings, which soon weighed down and polluted the Church.

With all these strange
birds coming together on the tree, there was a constant noisy chirping
of the different calls of the birds. This noise was the arguments and
debates over certain Church affairs. Through the argument as to whether the
Lord Jesus Christ was God or Man, a teaching stirred up by Arius, a priest
of Egyptian Alexandria, a council was convened at Nicea, Rome, in 325 AD
under the order of Constantine. The product of that council was the false
theological understanding of God known as the Holy Trinity, which is
accepted by almost all in Christendom today.

During this age of about
300 years there were about 35 men in the Roman Church who were made popes.
(As centuries passed, the later popes claimed to be as the God Almighty,
"The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or
interpret even divine laws." (Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta
Bibliotheca, art. "Papa," (Pope) II, Vol VI, pp. 26-29.) Politics ruled the
day and the more powerful birds got to stay a little longer on the mustard
tree. But how was the life of that mustard tree to grow as more and more
burdensome creatures perched on its branches making it droop and sag and
dirty with their droppings causing it to look more and more like a monstrous
beast (cf. Rev.13:1-10)? Where was the life of the mustard tree? It simply went right back down into the earth,
figuratively speaking. The true elect went "underground".

The Parable of the Leaven
– Matthew 13:33

33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

With the true Church
going underground, the filthy Church in Rome began to exert her power to do
as she wished. In order to rule the Roman Empire, she had to win over the
pagans. To make it much easier for the people to embrace Romanism, she took
some leaven and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.
(The filthy Roman Church was the "woman" in the parable.) That three
measures
that
God had weighed out to make a meal – a whole loaf, were Justification,
Sanctification and Holy Ghost Baptism; all
that lie in the Complete Redemptive Work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Roman
Church had to corrupt the very Bread of Life that God provided in
Christ. That woman, Mother Harlot (Rev.17:5), took her creeds, dogmas and
rituals and hid them in the three measures of meal making it to rise, making
the bread easier to eat. The whole loaf was puffed up with nothing but
"hot air". She then fed it to the people who were fooled into
believing that they were
receiving the Bread of Life. It simply looked good and easy to eat, and so
the people bought it, ate it and believed that eternal life was in it. It
was a lie, a BIG lie. They were eating but corrupted bread.

The Roman Catholic Church
had leavened the Truth of Life in many ways. For Justification, "by grace
are ye saved through faith", she substituted it with "faith in the Roman
Catholic Church", teaching that there is no salvation outside the Mother
Church, as she called herself. For Sanctification, she substituted it with
indulgences, penance and the confession. For Holy Spirit Baptism, she
substituted it with Mass and Confirmation. But there is two leaven that to
this day can be found in her "daughter harlot" churches, and that is, Water
Baptism in the titles of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, along with the false
teaching of the Holy Trinity. The baptism is even done by sprinkling or
pouring of water onto the individual’s head.

Throughout the 1000 years
of the Dark Ages (of Thyatira, Rev.2:18-29), the leavened bread of the Roman
Church was fed to the masses. Not only were the majority of the people
feeding on the bread of death in ignorance but their natural life throughout
that period was sickly, being plagued by diseases and death due to a
restrain on knowledge and advancement in the many fields of science by the
Roman Church.

The Parable of the Hidden
Treasure – Matthew 13:44

44 Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he
hath, and buyeth that field.

As we come into the fifth
parable we see the Age of Reformation or the Sardisean Church Age
(Rev.3:1-6). This period began around the 16th Century. Many of
the treasures of God’s precious priceless truths were lost to the people
during the last 1000-year reign of the woman Jezebel (Rev.2:18-29). During
this period there were many men searching for the treasures in the wrong
fields. Martin Luther was just such a man. He searched all over Europe in
the monasteries for several fruitless years. In hope of obtaining an
indulgence promised by the pope, he went to what was called Pilate’s
Staircase in Rome and began crawling up the stairs on his knees. While doing
this he was halted by the words of the Scriptures, which came to him:
"The just shall live by faith". The voice clearly was God’s.

Martin Luther had found a
piece of precious treasure. He silently kept that to himself, hiding it from
his fellow priests for a good while as he continued searching. Having gotten
all the information he needed, he drafted out a claim, figuratively
speaking, his 95 theses. Then he went and nailed it to the Wittenberg Castle
door of the Roman Catholic Church. He sold back all the religious things he
had gotten from the field of that woman, Jezebel, and bought the field of
God from where he had found the piece of treasure. The words from the realm
of the Roman Church had nothing to offer mankind but lies, whereas those
from the realm of the Lord Jesus Christ had many treasures to offer truth
seekers of God. There were men like John Calvin who discovered the treasure
of Eternal Security of the True Believer, and John Knox, the treasure of
Predestination. It is true that many of the treasures were just nuggets but
they produced enough excitement among the true worshippers, urging them to
take a closer look in the realm of God. "Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do
ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which
satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isa.55:1-2).

Just a short time before
the Reformation started and Protestantism came into the picture, Christopher
Columbus discovered the New World – America. With that discovery, many
in Europe were able to find freedom away from the oppression and bondage of
the Roman Catholic Church. Not only was that Roman Church wounded by the
Reformation, but by about 300 years later, in 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte
dethroned the pope, deepening the wound on the head of the monstrous Beast
(cf. Rev.13:3).

The Parable of the Pearl
of Great Price – Matthew 13:45-46

45 Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

46 Who, when he
had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and
bought it.

With the close of the
Sardisean Church Age, we enter into the Philadelphia’s (Rev.3:7-13). Unlike
the man we read in the fifth parable, this man was a merchant by trade. He
was in the business looking out for beautiful and valuable pearls. This
man was the preacher John Wesley, the messenger to the age of Philadelphia, an
age of brotherly kindness.

John Wesley was the 15th
of 19 children born to his pious parents. They were from the Church of
England, the half sister to the Roman Church. In the period when he was
born, the standard of morals in England was ebbing. Gambling, drinking and
fighting were common every day events. John Wesley was a well-educated
Anglican minister. Desiring to be a missionary and to evangelize the
American Indians, he went to Georgia, USA, only to be discouraged. He
thought he had something valuable to sell but the American Indians did not
want it. After two years, he sailed home to England. He wrote, "I went to
America to convert Indians; but oh, who shall convert me?" Despite his
good education and serving God, Wesley had no peace with God in his heart.
Wesley had every outward appearance of being a marvelous Christian, yet his
heart wasn't converted – and he knew it. He belonged to the "Holy Club" in
college. He was a pastor. He was a missionary. Yet he wasn't really saved.

On May 24, 1738, at a
Moravian Christian gathering, while listening to the reading of Luther’s
preface to his "Commentary on Romans", Wesley’s heart was "strangely
warmed". He had received a revelation. Then and there he trusted Christ
alone for his salvation from sin. With that he began to seek further into
the Word and God began to reveal to him the need for a clean lifestyle, a
holy living. He began to see a pearl of great price – Sanctification. Yes,
John Wesley did not only believe in "the just shall live by faith"
but also that "without peace and holiness, no man shall see the Lord".
What he once had out of that cold system of the Church of England was
nothing short of "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof"
(cf. 2Tim.3:5). He sold that which he had and purchased the "pearl of great
price".

On horseback, Wesley rode
throughout England and preached to many in the mountains and coal
mining towns. Many were converted. There was such a great revival in that
hour. But most of the bishops of the Church of England were wary and they
would not reform. They closed the doors of their churches on Wesley
and his teaching. Rejected but undeterred, Wesley declared "the world is my
parish".

Wesley’s "pearl of great
price" became known as the doctrine of Sanctification, Consecration and
Dedication unto God. His followers were taught to approach their religious
activities methodically and with a disciplined life. Hence, they were called
Methodists. Many of his followers migrated to America with his message and
established a strong Methodist Church before Wesley died on 2 March, 1791.

The Parable of the
Dragnet – Matthew 13:47-52

47 Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and
gathered of every kind:

48 Which, when
it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into
vessels, but cast the bad away.

49 So shall it
be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the
wicked from among the just,

50 And shall
cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of
teeth.

52 Then said he
unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out
of his treasure things new and old.

This is the last of the
seven parables and it depicts the last of the Seven Church Ages – Laodicea
(Rev.3:14-22). Christ was revealing the consummation of the Gospel (Grace)
Age. Remember in the second parable (20 years after the start of the
Church), the tares that appeared among the wheat were left to grow alongside
until the time of the harvest (the end of the Grace Age). They then would be
gathered first and bound up, ready for the burning. The seventh parable
appears to be similar but only to some degree. What we see here is the final
great Gospel revival of preaching the Word of God to the masses of people
around the world. In the parable, the fishing net that was cast into the sea
was not an ordinary and commonly used cast net. It was a dragnet, a
large fishing net. And when it was full, it took as many fishermen as were
required to drag and haul it to shore. On the shore the catch was then
separated. When such a great net is cast into the sea, it is inevitable to
find every sort of creature from the sea in the net. What the Lord was
looking for, in casting the great net, were the fishes – the "good" stuff.

The great net was cast in
the early 20th Century. It was so enormous that every religious
sort in the sea of humanity found their way into the net. Upon sorting,
"spiritual" fishes that were the good (virtuous, beautiful, valuable) were
gathered into vessels. The "religious" bad (worthless, rotten), such as
jellyfishes, crabs, turtles, sharks, octopuses, eels, crayfishes, sea sluts,
etc., were thrown away. (Remember that the Jews understood which sea
creatures were lawful, and which were not, to be eaten.)

We are now living in the
age where we do not only see the separation of the tares (false seeds) from
the wheat (true seeds), but also the gathering of the good (true elect who
are beautiful, virtuous and valuable in God’s eye for they conform to the
Word) and the throwing away of the bad (make-believers who are rotten and
worthless for they do not conform to the Word) in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The revival under John
Wesley went on for a good long while in the 19th Century before
it began its decline. The movement found itself dividing into many groups, a
result of squabbling over certain doctrines. There were also other movements
of Christian groups throughout Europe and America. By the end of the
century, there were hungry souls crying out for more from God and this
caused God to send a wave of revival at the turn of the 20th
Century with a great number of souls speaking in tongues. This was the
beginning of Christ’s final ministry to gather unto Himself an end time
group of true worshippers before His return. Church History marked the year
1906 as the beginning of the revival in which we see the various spiritual
gifts of God – prophecies, faith, miracles, divine healing and others, being
poured out upon the believers.

"Wherefore tongues are
for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:.."
(1 Cor.14:22a). God was using tongues to draw the attention of the
unbelievers and also that of the vast number of nominal Christians. However,
by 1913 there was much schism in the movement, which soon led to the
teaching that the "initial evidence" of having the Holy Spirit was to "speak
in tongues". It was strictly taught regardless of the fact that it was
contrary to the Scriptures which states that "tongues" was a sign to the
unbelievers, that it was a gift to the church, and that not all believers
spoke in tongues (cf. 1 Cor.12).

The evidence of having
the Holy Spirit is not in the "speaking of tongues" but the love for the
Word of God as He reveals It. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me:
for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and
shall shew it unto you" (Jhn.16:13-15). It is this love for the Word of
God, the love for the Truth, that is the evidence of having the Holy Spirit
because God is in His Word. The Spirit and the Word are one. Hence, the Holy
Spirit is given to lead and guide a believer into God’s true revelation of
His Word. God is also love and if one has the Spirit, he has the love of
God. Without that love then all is vanity (cf. 1 Cor.13).

When the Holy Spirit was
poured out upon the true worshippers as they sought more from God, they not
only spoke in tongues, but they also received the revelation of the One True
God and His Redemptive Name in Water Baptism. Like the true worshippers on
the Day of Pentecost, they had no difficulty in accepting the truth. They
all turned away from the false and pagan doctrine of a Holy Trinity of God
to the true doctrine of One God, and from Water Baptism in the triune titles
of Father, Son and Holy Spirit to Water Baptism in the Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They knew that to put on Christ, one had to take His Name in
the New Birth. But soon carnality, intellectualism and power struggles
appeared, groups began to be formed, and slowly many moved away from those
revelations to focus on the so-called "initial evidence" of speaking in
tongues as proof of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The outpouring of the
Holy Spirit was not to confront the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as
much as it was to confront those caught in the great net with the complete
Word of the Almighty God. Each caught within the net was either good or bad.
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him"
(Jhn.14:23). Every believer must take heed to the doctrines found in the Word.
"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in
doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee"
(1Tim.4:16). For centuries the churches had so misplaced the Truth of God
but now every elect must line up with the Word of His Beloved. Everyone’s
doctrinal standing would be tested for there would appear a ministry that
would take every believer to the Word to determine if they were one with the
Word. The last verse in the parable itself revealed such a ministry.
"Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his
treasure things new and old." Recall how the two words "man" and
"merchant" were used to describe the "minister" in the 5th
and 6th parables respectively. Here the word used was "scribe"
to denote a particular office. A scribe is a gifted man devoted to the study,
writing and teaching of the Scriptures. He is very particular about the
"iota" and "tittle" of the Word of God. Notice further in the verse,
"every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven" denotes
that there would be men of God who were specially instructed in the
mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are instructed (taught) by the
Spirit of God and not by men. Each of them would be as "unto a man that
is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and
old", that is, each of them was as an owner of a repository of treasure
from which he would show forth new (fresh) and old (familiar) revelations to
his household of God’s family.

Now, the ministry began
with a little man by the name of William Marrion Branham of Jeffersonville,
Indiana, USA. As the great net was being cast, William M. Branham was the
man God used greatly to bring about a wave of emphasis on salvation, Holy
Spirit baptism, divine healing, miracles and prophecies just after the First
World War. He was given not only the gift of healing the sick but also the
gift of "discerning the secrets of men’s hearts". The latter gift is not one
of the nine gifts of the Spirit known as the "gift of discerning of spirits"
(1 Cor.12:10) as many had insisted, but it is actually a gift that had
manifested in only one other person – Jesus Christ when He came as the Son
of Man. To Bible students, the gift is known as the "sign of the Messiah".
The return of this gift fulfilled the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 17:30,
cf. 17:22, to reveal once again the ministry of the Son of Man on the earth.
[For more understanding, read my message entitled: The Coming of Christ.]
The Jews, to whom Jesus Christ first came, had seen the SIGN in action. With
the Grace Age closing, the Gentiles were given the opportunity to see the
same SIGN in operation (in William Branham) before Christ returns to take
His Bride away.

Through the ministry of
William Branham, the revival caused many in the divided Church World,
including the Pentecostals – the Oneness and the Trinitarians, to leave
their denominations when they received the revelation of the Word of God.
Christians began to see that God had truly sent a prophet. Many other men
caught the vision and joined in the casting of the great net. Unfortunately,
the eyes of many of those men were focused on the outward move of God rather
then on the inward move of the Holy Spirit in bringing believers closer
towards the Word of God. They soon compromised the Word for popularity and wealth,
using their ministries to get them further in this world.

As the great net was
being hauled onto shore, the catch was being separated – the good from the
bad. As the angels of the Lord were sent out (in 1948) to gather the tares
(false seeds which formed the false churches) and to bind them together
under the World Council of Churches for the burning, so the Lord also sent
His angels to separate those caught in the great net. All creatures that
came into the great net might have moved and swayed religiously but they
certainly were not all the "good". Through the Word each would be tested for
his worth. Hence, we see Christ fanning His threshing floor thoroughly
(Matt.3:11-12). Just after the mid-1950, the Lord began then to use the same
little man, William Branham, to get the believers to pay attention to the
teaching of the Word of God. Christ had a message for the believers and His
messenger was the little man.

William Branham began to
strike out at the organized churches, at their ideas, at their programs, at
their creeds and dogmas, etc., crying out to them to "COME BACK TO THE WORD OF GOD!"
He was the first "scribe" to take out from his treasure box things new, such
as the revelation of the Seven Seals (which was never revealed in ages
past). He also took out things old, such as the individual doctrines that
the different Reformers taught in the early years but which they and their
followers had trouble accepting those not their own. Branham gathered all of
them together and correctly placed them in the Word and told the believers
to walk in it. All major apostolic doctrines, that the organized churches
had chosen to bury in their archives, were set in order. Branham emphasized
ceaselessly on the need to STAY WITH THE WORD
to be perfected in preparation for the coming of Christ. He also put great
emphasis on the revelation of the One True God and the Water Baptism in the
Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The creatures in the great net were all
facing the Word of God as the call for a total separation from unbelief was
made. The message was to restore the saints to the Apostolic Faith before a
Five-fold ministry comes, according to Ephesians 4, to perfect them. If
there were no separation from unbelief, perfecting the Church would be
impossible.

No, the majority of the
Christendom would never accept the fact that God had sent a little man with
a message of restoration to rouse the Church in the Word (according to
Malachi 4:5-6) for a Five-fold ministry, which was to come, that would take
the Church to perfection. On the other hand, there are a great number of
followers of this messenger, running around the world, teaching merely by
quoting the oral words of the little man, verbatim, from some two thousands
of his sermons recorded on magnetic tapes. They insist that "you have to say
exactly what he said or else you are not in the message", something that
Branham had never said. This group of people would never believe in a
Five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4 that takes and stands upon the Scriptures (the same Bible
that the messenger used) and perfects the Church for her translation. In
fact, the deceptive and seductive spirits that fell upon the churches in
Christendom has also fallen on this group of "believers". These "believers"
are not only building up their churches on a collection of statements of
Branham, some are also being led into a cultic worship of God’s messenger
instead of the Lord God Who sent him. Satan has stolen the Truth that they
heard.

With the passing away of
William Branham, the ministry of separation continues under the Five-fold
ministry of the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers
(Eph.4:11-16), with certain "scribes" in the Apostolic ministry bringing out
more treasures, new and old, as the Lord continues to perfect the "good"
(the elect) for His return.

So, it is with this final
great revival of the casting of the great net that God set the stage for the
parable of the Ten Virgins, recorded in Matthew 25:1-13, which this seventh
parable overlapped, just as it was overlapped by the second parable.